Fort
by AlcesRedivivus
Summary: At the age of thirteen, Sora saw his first snow. At the age of 17, Sora was truely happy. One-shot. SoRiku.


The spiky haired brunet jumped around frantically, screaming the first thing that came to his head. "Mom! Mom, it's snowing!" Count on young thirteen year old Sora to state the obvious. Over in Destiny Islands, the slightest thing they ever came to snow was 40 degree weather surrounding the air they lived in. Every year around winter Sora hoped and never gave up, that one day, it will snow in that dreaded island he loved so much. Now the day had came as he sat on his sofa, watching the white flakes fall softly outside. He plastered the scene in his mind, forcing it to stay there as long as possible, and then realization hit him.

It was snowing, and he was sitting inside his warm and cozy house. Despite the fact that the snow was only grazing the grass in his front lawn, Sora leapt to his feet and sprang to put his coat on, tripping down the steps leading to his front porch and out into the open.

For hours that felt like mere minutes, the brunet remained outside in the snowfall. He walked down streets, up hills, through woods, laid in fields; all by himself, and that didn't stop him. Sure, Sora got quite lonely enjoying the fun without anyone to accompany him, but he tried his hardest not to let the fact get to his head that he had slim to none friends.

Eventually Sora grew tired, trudging his way back home through an unknown person's backyard; he couldn't help but notice the small fort in the corner of his eye. The dome was made up of cardboard boxes and other materials you would find scattered throughout someone's house. Boxes stacked on boxes, cut out shapes to fit with one another, the bright paint and markers scribbled everywhere were so tempting, Sora could not help himself. Being thirteen, said boy would have thought he'd grown out of playhouses such as this, but there was something about this one. It was so well built, so kept together; there was no way a child did this by himself.

Sneaking his way across the crammed yard, young Sora made his way to the door labeled "Riku's Secret Place" in bold, neat black letters. As the brunet pushed the sheet used as a curtain out of his way, he crawled in, expecting it to be tiny and cramped, but he was welcomed with a space big enough for him to stand up and stretch. A smile smeared across his features like it had been all day, but instead of excitement, he was greeted with serenity.

Several minutes of observing by-passed Sora as he treated the hideout with all the most delicateness. It was not large; it was not small, it was just right to fit two people with a bean-bag chair.

Sora was becoming too wrapped up in the palace he wished was only his to even notice the silveret standing in the doorway. Said boy had a rather furious look mixed with confusion on his face. "What are you doing in _my _secret place? Better yet, who are you?" The brunet's head snapped behind him before the silveret even had a chance to finish his sentence. Sora swallowed the frog in his throat. This kid was pretty intimidating by the looks of it; he wasn't sure what to say.

The first thing he thought of was, "So, you're Riku?" The boy look shocked at the confidence this brunet in front of him had.

"Yes, I'm Riku, and you are?" Riku stepped fully inside the fort now, bending a little as he was taller than Sora by a few inches. He took a seat in a corner, eyeing the boy whose name he still did not know.

"I'm Sora. I uh.. Like your fort." Sora looked down at his feet, trying to find anything to do to make this less awkward and terrifying for him, but with his luck Riku just got more suspicious. "Okay, Sora. Why are you here? This isn't _your _secret place, it's mine. I don't mind sharing, but you didn't even ask to come in. Heck, I wasn't even here when you did."

Riku looked a bit hurt at how careless Sora had been. But Sora didn't blame him; he would have been angry too. "I-I'm sorry, Riku. I was just taking a short-cut through your backyard coming home, and I saw this fort. Did you build this by yourself? It's incredible." The silver haired boy motioned for Sora to sit down instead of standing in his awkward and uncomfortable position, clearing his throat a little as he spoke. "It's fine.. I was just curious. Uh, yeah, I built it by myself back at my old house. I just moved here a couple of days ago, and I wanted to bring this with me to the new house, since now it's all I really have left of that place." Riku sighed, flipping his hair so it went in his face, trying to hide away the hurt look in his eyes from the memories he left behind.

Sora made an "o" shape with his mouth, trying to understand what Riku went through. "I'm sorry, again. I had no clue it meant that much to you. I'll go now, sorry… bye." He motioned to get up, lifting himself off of the carpeted ground with his arms, trying his best not to fall and look like an idiot.

"Wait!" Riku's voiced was louder than he had wanted it to be, and Sora's eye grew wide as he toppled over from the loss of balance. "Ow…" He groaned. "Sorry, Sora. I um, just wanted to know… if you'd like to… be my friend. I don't want you to leave." One look at the pleading look in Riku's eyes and Sora had to say yes.

* * *

"Riiiiii-ku!" Sora whined, beckoning for his boyfriend to come over to the tree he was standing oh-so-patiently by.

"Soooor-aaaah." The silveret mimicked, laughing at Sora's pout as he made his way towards the big oak tree. He looked so adorable, standing there in his short, huggable glory; arms crossed, pout slanted, brow furred. Riku had to refrain from glomping Sora at that moment, and it was difficult.

"Sora? Hello, are you in there?" Riku waved his hand in front of the brunet's face, bringing him back to reality. "Wha-? Oh! Yeah, I'm here!" Sora smiled, almost too big for his face, before receiving a peck on the nose from his love.

"So, why'd you want me to come over here?" The older asked, winding his arms around Sora's waist as he looked down into his lover's eyes. Sora beamed, jumping slightly in Riku's arms. "I have a surprise for you!" Before Riku could respond, Sora was out of his embrace and behind the tree, doing who knows what.

"Surprise? What for?" Riku stepped forward, attempting to peek his head behind the trunk to see what his boyfriend was doing, before Sora snapped at him, telling Riku to back-off for a second.

"You just told me to get over here, now you want me to back-off? Hmph, well, then I''ll be on my marry ol' way back to m-" Sora coughed, "Riku, shut up and get over here!"

Riku huffed, _He always bosses me around._

"What is so important that I must come behind this stupid-," and then he stopped, his breath hitched, and he couldn't tell if he was smiling or not. Right before him was an exact replica of his fort. Everything looked perfect, as if that was the real one, but it wasn't; the real one got destroyed years ago in a bad storm.

Sora looked at Riku, happy to see him smiling, but confused to see his eyes a bit watery. "Ri? Why're you crying?" The brunet took a step forward and hugged him around the waist, wresting his chin on his chest looking up at Riku's face.

"I'm not crying. I'm just… overly happy." Riku grinned and returned the hug, loving the embrace, not wanting it to end. "Thanks, Sor." He sighed.

Sora pulled back to stand on his tip-toes, placing both hands on either side of Riku's face and planting a light kiss on his forehead. "Anything for you." He whispered.

Growing up, and now growing older by the second, their love for one-another never faded, never will.

* * *

**a/n:** I wrote this for midnight585 on dA for her Christmas present :3 Thought I'd put it here.


End file.
